Asphalt paving involves depositing a mat of paving material such as hot asphalt on a bed and then compacting the asphalt to a uniform thickness and consistency. Compactors use different configurations for the compacting process. Some compactors use a steel drum with vibrators. Other compactors use separate wheels, while others use a combination of separate wheels and drums. When a compactor sits idle on an area of recently placed hot asphalt, the drum or wheels may sink into the asphalt and over-compact those areas under the drum or wheels. Once over-compacted, the dip formed in those areas is virtually unrepairable and the deformation compared to the remaining uniform asphalt mat will remain indefinitely.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,942,679 (the '679 patent) discloses a system for monitoring environmental and machine conditions to create an index related to the state of compaction of an area where asphalt has been deposited. The index is displayed to an operator and represents a total amount of compaction that has been made on each area of the work site. The '679 patent fails to disclose an alert system that notifies an operator when a compactor is stopped on an area of asphalt that is still hot enough to result in over-compaction of that area.